The Curia Informs - Passio Christi

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The Curia Informs “We trust that…the lantern of faith and hope placed on the lamp stand of the communities, of the Synods and on the lamp stand of next General Chapter will illumine our way and the choices we have to make.” other points, he recalled what Pope John Paul II said in a special Audience with over 400 Passionists: the “new Constitutions… intend to indicate the manner of observing the Rule of Saint Paul of the Cross in the present historical situation and according to the directives of the recent Council and the new Code of Canon Law.” The Circular Letter of Paul Boyle further stated: “This Rule and these Constitutions should be received in a pro found spirit of faith. We firmly believe, indeed it is funda mental to our commitment, that these approved texts express the Will of God in our regard.” And he continued: “Every document issuing from the Church has a human author, often a small group of persons. But we all recognize that it would be a serious lack of faith to view these documents exclusively or primarily as the work of a particular individual or commission. Such documents come from the Church.” This 25 th Anniversary is an occasion to review and become familiar with the development and the richness of the charism in the Constitutions and in the wider context of the history of the Congregation. These have been studied in depth in timely and specific publications, books, symposia, congresses and reviews, and also in various issues of the series entitled: “Studies in Passionist History and Spirituality” that were sent to the communities. This Anniversary offers us an opportunity to also reflect on the particular time period in which we are living out the process of Restructuring which has as its goal to give renewed vitality to the Congregation. We are at the midpoint in this process of crossing over; we are in the middle of the river and we have to get to other shore. The period in which we are living is very fragile because, enlightened by solidarity, we are moving toward reconfiguring ourselves into something new. Solidarity in the various areas of formation, personnel and finances will allow us to share wealth and poverty and to reciprocally reach out to one another in order to be mutually enriched. Frequently, during General Chapters, Synods, in our communities and in personal conversations we have asked ourselves: what would St. Paul of the Cross think about the Congregation considering the problems of today’s world and the realities in which the Congregation is living in its historical areas and in those recently established areas Would he remain inert or would he theorize about solutions and new possibilities in order to revive fraternal life in the communities and greater effectiveness in ministry The Restructuration would be an answer to these questions. It is an arduous task and we know this; but we are moving ahead with faith, with prayer and with great courage and trust in the Lord. One can also choose to remain in Egypt; but Promised Land of new spiritual energy and effective planning would remain far away, beyond the Red Sea of inertia. It may seem to be wise and prudent to preserve what little we have; the talents can be buried in the ground. But in the parable, the Lord called that servant “wicked, lazy” and took away his talent and he had him thrown out into the darkness. Instead he rewarded the servant who was trustworthy and faithful, who dared to risk his own five talents. (Mt. 15:14-30) Life is conquered by faith! Faith generates life as in Abram, in Mary and in the miracles of Jesus. We trust that the leaven of the “Memoria Passionis” will enliven the search for the will of God and the lantern of faith and hope placed on the lamp stand of the communities, of the Synods and on the lamp stand of next General Chapter will illumine our way and the choices we have to make. I would like to conclude with the act of faith in No.2 of the Constitutions: “Confident that God will help us to overcome our human limitations, we are determined to remain faithful to the patrimo ny and evangelical spirit of our Founder.” Amen. Rome, Sts. John and Paul 2 March 2009 Fr. Ottaviano D'Egidio, C.P. Superior General 6 -------- Bip N.19 March/April 2009 --------
The Curia Informs From the Rule to the Constitutions: the Historical Continuity of our Charism Twenty-five years after the approbation of our Constitutions (1984-2009) Fr. Giuseppe Comparelli (DOL) Emilio Giacomo Cavalieri (1694-1726) Bishop of Troja The Original Inspiration The first Rule of St. Paul of the Cross dates from his youth. He wrote it from December 2 to 7, 1720, without any precise idea of a Rule or the structure of a religious institute. What was clear in his mind was “the inspiration to gather companions…in order to promote the holy fear of God.” This is what we gather from his introduction to the first text, which was then destroyed. The key words in that early project, a first draft, were: law of God; evangelical counsels; total detachment from created matter; poverty with the underpinning of asceticism and prayer. This text contains the core component that set into motion a process that would characterize Paul’s program: Friday dedicated to the Passion of Christ; the religious would dress in black in “mourning for the Passion and death of Christ” in order to promote the “sorrowful remembrance.” The youthful phase of Paul’s life was the most penitential and the most solitary. It was such in Gaeta and also afterward, up to the first foundation of 1737, until his interaction with ecclesiastical personalities that helped him to further understand what he wanted to found and how to codify it. Even following his priestly ordination Paul was referred to as a “hermit” by Cardinal Corradini, who saw him leave the hospital of San Gallicano for Mt. Argentario, a clear choice to move in a different direction. All of this was in keeping with a dream: constitute a group of men of God that would be intermittently hermits-apostles-hermits. There was nothing of this type during that century. Paul envisioned an institute along the lines of those reforms that took place in the history of the great religious families: those who were observant, reformed, etc. The distinguishing characteristics were: fasting, penance, solitude, coarse cloth, barefoot and radical poverty. In Paul’s time, in the middle of the 18 th century, these experiences were known and already assimilated in accepted and legitimate formats, but always within the large historical religious orders, that had solemn vows and, therefore, with the advantage of vast secular experience and guarantees. In this respect, Paul wanted the maximum, a kind of new Order that would have these audacious characteristics as norms, rather than random radical ideas, which would define it and, in a certain sense, sustain it. In view of this, the ecclesiastics of the time, in the dicasteries of the Holy See, worked to oversee it and to mitigate its excessive rigor. They made Paul realize that the corrections they suggested were for the stability of the Congregation itself. This “stability” was the concern that slowly convinced him to accede, especially after the bitter rejection of the request for solemn vows. The dream had to be tempered by reality. The Process of clarification and codification The first text that Paul outlined, with great enthusiasm, was more a work of spiritual fervor than a true rule, and it was thus that it was perceived by the first examiners. The first to read it with a certain amount of competence and esteem was Bishop Emilio Cavalieri. He improved the text with 36 annotations. He added points that regarded the formation of the young, the person of the lay Brother, the election of superiors, and the spiritual care of the religious. Certainly Bishop Cavalieri made Paul read the Rule of the Pious Workers (an institute that was highly esteemed at that time, to which the bishop himself belonged). That interaction left traces in the concept of the Congregation that Paul began to delineate. There is also evidence of this influence in the terminology that he adopted: preposito (superior general), rector, etc. Cavalieri also counseled Paul to center the Rule in the ecclesiastical reality, in addition to those more significant traditions of the religious family: the discipline, weekly accusation of faults, etc., including the vesture. Cavalieri suggested to Paul that he also state those points that were incompatible with the idea that he was developing: parishes, chaplaincies, pastoral contact with monasteries, etc. Paul learned from Cavalieri that an institute should have in its Rule a kind of formula that would guarantee stability; otherwise, everything would be lost in the momentary and anarchical power of an ephemeral inspiration. And this was not all: he would need direct contact with the Church that legislates, i.e. the dicasteries of Rome. Cavalieri counseled Paul how to accomplish this when he gave him the right letters for the right people in Rome. Up until 1730, spiritually Paul was still the same man that he was in Castellazzo. As a Founder he knew that he could no longer proceed, blissfully independent. -------- Bip N.19 March/April 2009 -------- 7
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